“That’s how the Orion survive,” said Cagill. “Water from aquifers. The Druanii must have set this up for them when they transferred them here from their home planet.”
“I haven’t seen any other evidence of technology,” said Finch, “so their needs must be minimal. In fact, I recall Subthree saying they didn’t like technology at all. It made them uneasy.”
Cagill grunted. He was looking at a readout from his comms officer.
“I think we’ve got company,” he said flatly. “Fifty or so exit signals starting to build up this side of the gas giants.”
Finch had been expecting this. The Druanii would have made a point of getting the Alliance forces to Sanctus first, but he knew the Invardii and their accompanying Buccra warships wouldn’t be far behind.
“I think we can say that ‘possession is nine-tenths of the law’,” he said grimly.
Cagill nodded. The two leaders – one of the research project at Prometheus, and the other of its military forces – had developed a healthy respect for each other over their time together. They had also discovered a similar interest in language and its use. Something said succinctly was appreciated by them both.
A sizable force of Buccra warships emerged into normal space not far from the Orion planet, followed by a small contingent of Reaper ships.
“The Invardii are making sure they’re not the first into action,” said Finch dryly.
Cagill was busy broadcasting a previously prepared declaration of Orion neutrality, under the Invardii-Druanii treaties governing Druanii protectorates. The Prometheus language team had used the same old, formal language that the Invardii had used when they first entered the Spiral Arm, and claimed the binary system – HK42 on Human star charts – from the Sumerians.
The incoming warships slowed, and held their positions for some time. It seemed they might respect the Alliance claims under the treaties. Cagill ordered his command Javelin to rejoin the Valkrethi-carrying Javelins a little further from the Orion planet.
There was a brief incoming comms burst, and the comms officer brought Cagill a simple message that acknowledged the right of the Orion to exist as a Druanii-sanctioned planetary system..
“Hard to believe that ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’,” said Cagill.
“Touché,” said Finch appreciatively.
Another message chattered across the comms officer’s console. At Cagill’s instigation it was translated so those on the bridge could understand it, then broadcast so all could hear it.
“Disclose coordinates of Druanii bases,” it commanded imperiously.
So, thought Finch, we’re worth talking to now are we? Last time we were beneath contempt, too minor for you to notice. Learned a little respect have we?
“Coordinates of Druanii bases are unknown to us,” replied Cagill, his words translated and sent back to the Invardii ships. “Disclosure is also not required under Invardii-Druanii treaties.”
“You are irrelevant under Invardii-Druanii treaties,” came the cold reply. “Disclose coordinates of all Druanii locations or you will die.”
“Well, I was hoping for a more positive outcome,” muttered Cagill under his breath.
Whether things went well or not, they were committed to defending the Orion system. They were also buying time for Cordez to find a way to deal with the Invardii city inside Antares.
Cagill took a deep breath. They weren’t going to be backing down.
“If Invardii choose today to die, we accept the challenge,” he said, and lifted his hand, thumb and fingers together, making an ‘O’ signal. His comms officer sent an ‘independent action imminent’ signal to every vessel in the Alliance fleet.
The response from the Buccra was immediate, and hostile.
The enemy warships split into two forces, one peeling off and making for the main body of Javelins and Sumerian warships. These were further out by the gas giants, where they were guarding the motherships. A smaller force headed for the Valkrethi-carrying Javelins near Sanctus.
“Godsdammit slag-spawn have double-crossed us!” roared Cagill to Finch, incensed at the turn of events. “Take over here while I launch my Valkrethi,” he added as he disappeared at a run toward the large, central bay that housed the sophisticated machine. Finch nodded.
The other modified Javelins were already launching Valkrethi, and Cagill hurried to catch up. The Buccra fired energy blasts at the Javelins as the Valkrethi launched and the Javelins scattered. The blasts damaged some of the Alliance ships, and destroyed one that wasn’t quite fast enough to get out of the way.
The long, arched ships pursued the Javelins as the smaller Valkrethi slid away into the vastness of space. There Alliance forces forestalled any attack as the Hud pilots twisted and turned the Javelins at breathtaking speed, and the Buccra weren’t able to get a shot at them. Then the Valkrethi returned, locking on to the enemy warships.
The Buccra were caught unawares by the tactic. The giant figures looked small next to the enemy star ships. They worked their way round the hulls of the Buccra ships, looking for weak spots. Parts of the hull were soon ripped away, and sections out of the long arches that joined the bridge and the engine room were torn apart. But as fast as the Valkrethi worked to destroy the enemy ships, they repaired themselves.
One of the Valkrethi tore loose enough of an arch to get access to one of the long, heavy missiles the enemy ships carried there. The giant figure reached in and ripped the missile apart, but the alien device detonated. Warship and Valkrethi vanished together in a blinding explosion.
The modified Javelins were taking advantage of the confusion among the Buccra warships as the Valkrethi ravaged them. The Javelins began to slam salvos of super-dense slugs into them. One of the enemy ships, hit by concentrated fire from a dozen Alliance ships, finally lost its power to regenerate. A number of Valkrethi closed on the disabled ship and swarmed over it, dismantling it into sections that drifted apart in space.
CHAPTER 21
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The main Buccra force had split off at the Orion planet, and it had just arrived at the Alliance position next to the gas giants in the outer part of the system. The main Javelin force and the Sumerian fleet formed a shield around the giant motherships, and the conflict spread to a second front.
The long, arched warships sought to get a clean shot at the motherships with their heavy missiles, and the Javelins and Sumerian warships tried to make sure they didn’t. In cases where the missiles were locked on and launched, the warships worked desperately to pick them off with energy beams before they could do any damage.
Only the fact they were outnumbered six to one stopped the Buccra from destroying the motherships as easily as they had at the confrontation above Uruk, when the Alliance force had been driven off the planet. The speed of the Hud pilots in the Javelins prevented the Buccra from using their shield-penetrating weapons and greater firepower to gain an advantage. Still, the Alliance began to lose ships as the desperate struggle continued.
Finally, a mothership moved to the front of the fray, and caught a Buccra warship in its bright, blue, plasma beam. The warship tried to repair itself, and for a while it seemed to hold the destructive forces of the plasma beam at bay, but then it melted away under the fury of the attack. Another enemy ship had just been caught in the bright, blue stream of plasma from the mothership when two of the heavy Buccra missiles drove deep within it and detonated, destroying the giant ship from the inside out.
Cagill knew his forces outnumbered the Buccra many to one, but he also knew that numerical superiority wasn’t going to give the Alliance victory. He decided on a tactical move, and called all of his Valkrethi together to concentrate on the small contingent of Reaper ships. They were stationed some distance away from the areas of engagement, so he brought the battle to them. If the Valkrethi could make the Invardii run for it, he thought they might order the Buccra to break off the attack as well.
Cagill called three of the gathering V
alkrethi to him, and together they locked on to one of the Reaper ships that had retreated a safe distance from the action. Other teams of four also chose their targets. Cagill’s team slid away into the darkness of space, and then closed on their target. The Invardii were going to be involved in this battle, whether they liked it or not.
The four Valkrethi slid into the plasma shield of the Reaper ship and worked themselves through it. They dropped onto the nearest hub, and then changed their position to initiate a pincer movement. Cagill sent two of his team to attack from below the hub, while he and the remaining Valkrethi prepared to go in through the side.
The Invardii would know the Valkrethi had landed on the hub, and they would be expecting them to attack using the same tactics as previously – two from the top and two from the side. Cagill, however, believed in the element of surprise, so he had changed the attack pattern.
He gave the second pair of Valkrethi time to get into position, then he and his number two ripped open the side of the hub. They found themselves under attack moments later, and the firepower leveled against them was worse than any he had encountered before.
The Invardii had been busy. More heavy weapons had been installed inside the Reaper ship hubs, and these opened up on the Valkrethi as soon as the hull was breached.
Cagill was punched straight back out of the hub, while his number two was driven sideways, and landed against a wall in a savage crossfire. Cagill instinctively ran diagnostics on his Valkrethi for damage, and then checked his energy levels. He discovered nothing serious in either department.
Realizing what had happened to the other Valkrethi he punched his way back into the hub, and dragged his number two out of the line of fire. Then they retreated to a safe distance where the Valkrethi could recover, and try to think up a more effective attack.
A quick comms check revealed the other two Valkrethi were having the same lack of success trying to breach the lower levels of the hub. Cagill thought for a moment. It was time to try a little trick he had been keeping in reserve for some time now. He signaled his number two.
“We’re going to use the Valkrethi as armor-piercing missiles,” he said. “What sort of shock do you think the internal damping systems can take?”
The other Valkrethi shrugged its massive shoulders as it drifted in space. It was recovering now from the battering it had taken. “Quite a lot, I would say,” said the pilot. “But how much is too much? I don’t know the answer to that one.”
Cagill outlined his plan. It was based on a number of unknown factors, but it was the only real option they had. His number two nodded the Valkrethi’s imposing head.
They turned and left the Reaper ship, working their way through the plasma shields before putting a good distance between themselves and their target. Then they turned back to look at it.
Raising their optic shields they opened a pathway between their current position in space, and a similar position on the other side of the Reaper ship. If they did this right, they would be at maximum speed when they hit the hubs inside the plasma shields.
Cagill gave his number two the finger and thumb ‘O’ signal for okay, and they both activated the Valkrethi displacement systems. Moving slowly at first they soon began to pick up speed, and then the Reaper ship’s shields were flashing toward them. There was a moment when it felt like he was punching through something with the consistency of molasses, before Cagill felt a sudden, massive, physical shock.
When he came round, he’d lost track of his Valkrethi partner. Somehow he had hit one of the larger hubs on the far side of the Reaper ship. It had always been a matter of chance whether he would hit anything at all. The Reaper ships consisted mostly of large open spaces among the many spars and hubs, but luck had been on his side.
He turned his head to look back into the long, jagged tunnel he had made deep into the hub. Pushing back the metal walls around him, he made enough room so that he could stand up.
A quick check revealed his energy levels were on the right side of halfway, but he had taken a lot of damage. His Valkrethi body would take a long time to heal.
Something hit him a glancing blow on the leg, and blasted out a fair-sized hole in the debris below him. He looked up. Damn Invardii were firing down the corridor he had made in their ship. He stepped sideways out of the line of fire, and his damaged leg folded under him. Before he realized it, he had crashed through a wall, and into a main corridor.
The main corridors radiated out from the reactors at the center of the hubs, so he must be getting close. Problem was, should he go left or right? He chose left, and dragged himself determinedly in that direction.
When he arrived at a thick bulkhead, his spirits lifted. Only a major energy source would need something this robust to contain it. He stood up, shakily. He was getting shot up faster than his Valkrethi was able to repair itself!
He smashed another entrance through the wall beside the bulkhead, figuring the walls would offer less resistance. He staggered forward into a large, open space, and straightened up in front of a tall metal column carrying glowing plasma conduits into the heights above him.
Yes! This was the place where he needed to be.
There was a scattering of Invardii along the galleries ringing the inside of the giant beehive structure. They reacted immediately, clearing the chamber as if by magic.
Taking us seriously now, are we boys, muttered Cagill tiredly. He knew he only had moments before the Invardii brought in one of their gray cannons and trained it on him again. He lurched forward and ripped all the plasma conduits off the closest side of the central column.
The conduits sprayed the stuff of suns around the chamber, and Cagill knew he was too close, and too weak, to withstand the blast that would soon follow. It seemed to take ages before the reactor blew out, and the hub followed. Detonations spread through the complex of spars and hubs, and then the Reaper ship was reduced to nothing but a spreading ring of debris.
It was a long, long time before Cagill came around again, and he was too emotionally exhausted to grapple with the fact he was, somehow, still alive. He lapsed back into unconsciousness, not sure if he would ever see the other members of his team again.
Two days later, Cagill was well enough to be brought up to date on the events that had followed the destruction of the Reaper ship. It was, first and foremost, impressed upon him how close he had come to destroying himself.
Then Finch told him what had happened after he lost consciousness the second time.
“You only just made it out alive,” he said. “We had given up hope of ever finding you when a Orion system. You would have fallen into the system’s sun eventually!
“There was nothing left of your Valkrethi, just the absolute basics of the shield around the pilot and the life support systems. It must have taken everything your Valkrethi had to protect you from the blast. You were no more than a tiny cocoon floating in space when we picked you up.”
Cagill knew it had been touch and go. It was still hard for him to believe he was alive.
“The rest of your team followed your example,” continued Finch, “and fired themselves into the Reaper ships like giant, armor-piercing shells. Once they had destroyed another of the Reaper ships the rest left the Orion system.
“The Buccra stuck it out for a bit longer, but then they must have been called off by the Invardii. I would say they don’t trust the Buccra to do what they’re told without direct supervision.”
“As my enemies are divided, so my strength multiplies,” said Cagill.
Finch raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, just something I once heard Cordez say,” added Cagill. Then he fixed Finch with a look that said plainly he wanted to know the truth about his next question.
“How did we go against the Buccra?” he asked, in a firm, even voice.
“Not so good,” said Finch somberly. “If you want to talk about losses we only managed to destroy five of the Buccra warships – and of course your team of Valkrethi too
k out two of the Reaper ships.
“Our own losses were much higher. The motherships were getting hammered toward the end, and we lost nine of them, over half of what we had. The Sumerian warships threw themselves at the Buccra ships to protect the motherships, so we lost more than half of them as well.”
He paused. The Prometheus losses were that much more difficult to talk about.
“The Valkrethi move quite slowly at the beginning and end of their dipole shifts through space, and the Buccra learned to target them at those times. We took 22 Valkrethi to the Orion planet, and that number’s been reduced to 14 now. Only nine returned after the battle was over, but others reported in during the following hours as they regenerated themselves. Two of the pilots survived the complete destruction of their mounts, protected by the personal shields.”
That was the most painful piece of news for Cagill. He had trained that group of Valkrethi pilots himself, and now six of them had been killed in action, and there had been others lost before that. He felt responsible somehow.
“The tremendous speed of the Hud pilots protected the Javelins to some extent,” said Finch, “but there were still losses due to the uncertainties you find in a dogfight. We lost 26 Javelins, out of the 108 we took with us.”
Cagill let the numbers sink in. They had lost over a third of the Alliance force, in return for five Buccra warships and two Reaper ships, less than ten percent of the enemy force.
They had also not given away anything about the Druanii, and the Invardii had accepted Orion neutrality under the old treaties. But the cost of those successes had been so high.
Even worse, the losses among their forces didn’t look encouraging for the final Alliance assault on the Invardii city. But then, he told himself, trying to bolster a small feeling of hope, the Alliance preparations weren’t finished yet.
The remnants of the force that had defended the rights of the Orion to neutral in the wars among their neighbors prepared to return home. On the way back they would pass another mission, a very much smaller one, that was heading much further out among the stars.
Invardii Box Set 2 Page 51